


Do You Dare?

by everchangingmuse



Category: Ever After High
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 17:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5465159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everchangingmuse/pseuds/everchangingmuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Courtly knows the perfect way to get to know her new classmates better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do You Dare?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VampirePaladin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/gifts).



_The moon is a thin sliver over Ever After High; a Cheshire Moon, as the Wonderlandians call it. Mostly, they say that to tease Kitty, but the name has always been popular. Tonight, however, is more than just a Cheshire Moon. There is a new student, a seemingly reformed villain, in their midst, and she –_

  
_**Brooke! Stop passing judgment on the students. Your job is to narrate, not commentate.**_

  
_Fine, fine, sorry. *ahem* There is a new student at Ever After High, and she has some interesting ideas for getting to know everyone better…._

  
Apple White wasn’t quite sure what the hex was going on in the student lounge, but she, as Student Council President, had a duty to make sure that whatever it was, it was being done safely. She stood in the doorway, watching as Courtly Jester, the newest student to enroll, orchestrated an elaborate seating arrangement.

  
“Now, you, and you, over there,” Courtly was saying, pointing to Duchess and Lizzie, and then to a settee covered in pink silk. “And you girls over there.” She directed Maddie, Cedar, and Briar to the slightly larger settee. “And, you and you up there.” Kitty and Cerise hopped up on the counter, which had been covered with cushions. She went on in this manner until everyone was seated somewhere, leaving only one large, golden throne left empty.

  
“Having a late night study session?” Apple asked, stepping into the room. “You know our curfew is in another hour, and Mrs. Her Majesty the White Queen is very strict about punctuality.”

  
Bunny looked up from her perch on a pouf near Raven’s feet. “I’ve got that covered, don’t worry. I’m never late.”

  
Courtly locked gazes with Apple, just as she was about to seat herself on that golden throne. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and then brightened. She stepped aside, gesturing for Apple to take the seat. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come!” she said. Her tone was ever so gracious, and Apple couldn’t detect even a hint of sarcasm. In truth, Apple had had no idea this gathering was even going on. But, it would be rude to say so and slight Courtly, right when she seemed to be trying so hard to get everyone together and, possibly, make friends.

  
“Silly me,” Apple replied. “Complete fairy fail.” She strode into the room and over to the golden throne, which Courtly had left vacant, and sat down primly. No sooner had she settled than Courtly hopped up onto the armrest, wrapping her arm around the back of the throne for support.

  
“Forgiven and forgotten, dearie,” Courtly said airily.

  
“Um, Courtly.” Raven spoke up from across the room. “Just why exactly did you want us all here?”

  
“To get to know you all better!” She sprang up from her perch on the arm of the throne and onto one of the decorative orbs at the top of the chair’s back, then spun around. “If we’re all going to be friends, then we should be close, shouldn’t we? Closer than Tweedle-dee-dees.”

  
Lizzie huffed and crossed her arms. “No nonsense.”

  
“Nonsense is the best sense,” Courtly countered, leaning back over the throne and flipping down to the ground. “Isn’t it?”

  
Across the room, Maddie nodded. “I have to agree.” She pulled her top hat down from her head and started pulling out cups and saucers. “Anyone for tea?”

  
“Seriously, Courtly, what’s your game?” Briar asked as Maddie passed around fresh cups of tea.

  
Courtly grinned. “That’s just it! My game is a game! It’s one that will help us all get to know each other better. It’s called Truth…or DARE!” She pounced forward toward Cedar, causing the wooden girl to squeak, and Kitty to laugh, nearly falling from her perch. Cerise growled lightly in response.

  
Apple’s bright blue eyes darted to the faces of her friends. She didn’t want this to become something rotten. “How do we play?” she asked, drawing Courtly’s attention back to her.

  
“Simple, really, and yet very, very difficult. We take turns asking each other ‘truth or dare’. The girl asked has to choose. If she picks truth, she has to tell whatever truth we ask, no matter what.” Courtly glanced over her shoulder, but Apple couldn’t tell whom her gaze was directed at from the angle she was facing. “If she chooses dare, she has to perform a little stunt. You can’t back out or change your mind once you’ve made a choice. If you do, you’re out.”

  
“And off with your head,” Lizzie chimed in.

  
Courtly grinned. “Exactly.”

  
Apple considered the game carefully for a moment. She loved each of these girls, Courtly excepted, like sisters. She didn’t want to see them embarrassed or hurt by whatever was asked of them. But, as her eyes glanced around the room again, she noticed the interest on her friends’ faces. Sly grins and blushes and laughter in eyes. “Nothing that runs the risk of Headmaster Grimm punishing us,” Apple said after a moment.

  
She watched Courtly’s face go through several expressions at once – disappointment, hope, scheming, and finally, a bright smile. “If that’s what it takes to get you to play, Apple dearie.”

  
The assembled girls all drew lots – wands that very closely resembled Farrah Goodfairy’s wand, but were wood painted all sorts of colors and patterns – to see who would ask the question first. Duchess got the golden-tipped wand. She grinned, eyes narrowing as she scanned the room.

  
“Bunny! Truth, or DARE!” she shouted, leaning toward the Wonderlandian. Unsurprisingly to Apple, Bunny chose truth. And, also unsurprisingly, Duchess asked her about her relationship with Alastair. Just as unsurprisingly, Bunny blushed pinker than the settee near her, and mumbled quietly, almost too quietly for the other girls to hear. Most of the girls awwed and cooed at her, but Courtly looked, to Apple, slightly crestfallen.

  
And so the game went. Bunny chose Briar, who chose Kitty, who chose Raven, who chose Ginger, who chose Darling, who then chose Apple. All up until this point had offered truths. Given the looks on everyone’s faces, they expected Apple to do the same.

  
“Dare,” she said calmly, perfectly poised. Only Darling Charming matched her for poise when the room heard the answer. Darling, of all the girls in the room, would be fairest, in Apple’s mind, about a dare.

  
“I dare you to...cartwheel through the room without bumping into anyone.”

  
Apple smiled. While she wasn’t the best at grimmnastics, this was something she could do. She stood, then launched herself sideways, threading her way around her friends. Some, like Kitty, tried to deliberately trip her up, while others, like Briar and Ashlynn, pulled up their legs to give her more space. She ended up back at the golden throne and shook her head, letting her hair fall back into place as if she’d never exerted herself, as she sat down. The assembled girls began to clap.

  
Apple chose Holly next, who chose Ashlynn, who chose Lizzie, and so on, until it was Duchess’ turn again.

  
“Cerise,” she said, a twinkle of mischief in her eye, “truth, or DARE!”

  
“Truth.”

  
“Why do you always cover your head with that red hood? Even now, you’re wearing it over your nightdress. What are you trying to hide?”

  
Cerise tugged the hood in question further down over her head and slouched on her perch. From the corners of her eyes, Apple saw Raven stiffen slightly, and saw Kitty give a true Cheshire grin. Whatever the reason, those two knew, or had very strong suspicions. And whatever the reason, Cerise was fairy, fairy self-conscious.

  
“This game is stupid,” she said, sliding down to the floor. “I’m done playing.”

  
“No, no, no. That’s not how the game goes,” Courtly said, stepping into Cerise’s path. “You have to answer. You heard the rules. You agreed to them.”

  
“But the rules don’t say that she has to tell everyone her truth,” Apple said. The room turned to stare at her. Even Cerise stopped trying to dodge around Courtly and looked at her. “She just has to say the truth.”

  
“I’ll be her listener,” Raven offered, standing up. She can whisper it in my ear.”

  
“But then we won’t know if it really is a truth,” Ashlynn said. “No offense.”

  
“She should tell Duchess, since Duchess asked the question,” Lizzie offered. Duchess looked gleeful at this prospect.

  
“Only if I can swear her to secrecy,” Cerise said. Her tone was reluctant. It was a concession offering even that much, Apple realized. Cerise didn’t want to disappoint her friends and spoil the game.

  
“Seems fair to me,” Cedar said. “Apple’s right; there wasn’t any rule about telling everyone the truth. Just that you had to tell the truth if you chose to.”

  
There was a quick vote, and it was decided that Cerise could take Duchess into the back corner of the room and whisper her secret, and that Duchess wouldn’t share the secret once she’d heard it, on bane of hexing from Raven. Apple watched them, as did the others, as Duchess pulled Cerise into the corner. Cerise’s lips were right against Duchess’ ear as she spoke, and Duchess’ eyes widened.

  
“No way,” she said. “Prove it.”

  
Cerise must have thought about the old adage, “in for a penny”, because she pulled her hood wider open on one side and moved like she was brushing her hair aside. From her vantage point on the throne, Apple thought she could see a hint of fur on Cerise’s ear. But, no! That couldn’t be! Why would she have fur on her ear?

  
The two returned to the group, Cerise looking more dour than before, and Duchess looking half-shocked. Cerise cast her eyes about for someone to call on. “Apple.” She snarled Apple’s name. “Truth, or DARE!”

  
This time, Apple decided to play it safe. “Truth,” she said.

  
Cerise’s silver-gray eyes flashed for a moment, almost glinting like gold, and she leaned forward. “When you get your Happily Ever After, who do you really want by your side?”

  
The other girls giggled and shook their heads, thinking the question a very silly one. Everyone knew that Apple would have Daring Charming by her side in her Happily Ever After. It was destiny, and no matter what had happened to change the course of the stories, that wasn’t going to change. Not in everyone else’s eyes. Apple, however, had gone still, like a rabbit under a wolf’s gaze, at the question. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, beating a fast rhythm. This was a secret she hadn’t told anyone. Not even her BFFAs. She’d barely let herself think the secret in secret.

  
“Apple?”

  
The sound of her name snapped her back to reality. The room was looking at her, puzzled. It had been Briar who had spoken.  
She tried to think. There had to be a way out of spilling her most closely-guarded secret. Her eyes darted around the room, lingering on the one whose name she couldn’t bring herself to say, even in her own mind, before realizing that she was part of the answer. A large part, yes, but only a part. Apple blinked, then smiled and sat back in the throne. “Who do I really want by my side? All of you, of course! It wouldn’t be a Happily Ever After without my friends to share it with me!”

  
And that was the truth. Was there someone she’d choose if she felt free to choose? Yes. But really, she wanted her all her friends around her, happy and fulfilled and living their own Happily Ever Afters alongside hers. All around her, the girls smiled and laughed and gave each other knowing looks. Even Cerise, who’d been so upset when she’d targeted Apple for questioning, seemed calmer and happier.

  
“Even me?” Courtly asked.

  
“That depends,” Apple said. “Courtly, truth, or dare?”

  
The Wonderlandian hesitated only a moment before calling truth.

  
“Do you really want to learn to play in a deck, working with others instead of against them, toward your own unique story?”

  
Apple watched as Courtly glanced down at her slippered feet and bit her lip. “Truth?” the joker card echoed. “I don’t know. I think so, but I really can’t say for certain.”

  
Apple smiled and rose from the throne. She took two steps over to Courtly and placed her hands on the other girl’s arms. Courtly looked up at her, her one visible eye wide and worried. “Thank you,” Apple told her, “for being truthful. If you’re willing to try and to find out, then yes, I would want you in my Happily Ever After. As would we all, I’d dare to say.”

  
Courtly smiled slightly, then grinned at Apple’s wordplay. “And with that, I declare that this first game of truth or dare ended,” she said. She stood up straight and danced away from Apple. “Not the most interesting game of it I’ve ever played, but not bad for a first go, wouldn’t you say?”

  
Kitty nodded. “Not bad, but next time we should change the rules a little. Maybe make it opposite truth or dare?”

  
Apple shook her head, hearing groans all around her. Then, she heard the tapping sound of Mrs. Her Majesty the White Queen’s heeled slippers on the stone staircase. “Time to go, everyone, before we’re caught out past curfew!”

  
Raven stepped up to her. “Want to go the quick way?” she asked. Before Apple could answer, Raven had taken her hand and used her magic to bring them up to the room they shared in the girls’ dormitory tower. She released Apple once they were safely inside their own walls, leaving Apple’s hand feeling tingly and warm. “That wasn’t exactly what I’d expected when Courtly invited us down for a get-together,” she said, stifling a yawn. “But it wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  
“No,” Apple said. She glanced down at her hand and smiled slightly. “Not so bad at all.”

  
_How hexellent! Apple is so close to realizing her true heart’s desire! I bet I if I just said…._

  
_**Brooke!**_

  
_I know, I know. No messing with the story. But come on, Dad, even you have to be hexcited about this! It’s going to be a real turning point! The start of a whole new chapter!_

  
_**If she decides to turn that page, we’ll see. In the meantime, you need to finish your narration, young lady.**_

  
_Fine, fine._

  
“Can you please just leave it here, so we can get some sleep?” Madeline Hatter shouted from the castle window.

  
_Sorry! Goodnight, Ever After._

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to palmedfire for being my beta reader, and helping me fine-tune this fic.


End file.
